COMSOL 6.3 - Adjusting Window Location and Size on the Desktop

Adjusting Window Location and Size on the Desktop

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To move a window, click-and-drag the window tab (the tab is where the window name displays, for example) to where you want it.

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To resize a window, hover your mouse over the window borders until a double arrow displays. Click-and-drag the borders between windows until the layout appears as you want it to be.


	At any time, in the Home toolbar, Layout group, click the Reset desktop button to restore the default desktop layout.

Closing a Window

Not all windows in the COMSOL Desktop are closable. Windows that you can close have an to the right of the window tab. Click that , right-click the window and choose , or press Ctrl+F4 (Command+W on macOS). You can reopen a closed window by choosing it from the menu (in the toolbar in the Windows® version). For the window (for mesh statistics), by right-clicking a node and choosing . It then replaces the window. Right-click the node again and choose to restore the window.

Figure 2-3: Click the X to close the Properties window. The Settings window cannot be closed.

Floating/Detaching a Window


	To detach a window to move and resize it, right-click the window tab and select Float. Right-click the window and choose Dock to return it to its previous location on the Desktop. You can also use the Window Position menu in the upper-right corner of a window.


	To detach a window to move and resize it, right-click the window tab and select Detached. Right-click and select the option again to dock it to the COMSOL Desktop, or drag and drop it back to where you want it.

Hiding or Pinning a Window to the Side of the Desktop (windows Users)

To hide a window, right-click the window and select . The window is minimized along the side of the Desktop (see Figure 2-4). Hover over the name to view a hidden or minimized window. To restore a hidden window, either right-click the window, or from the list, select or .

Pinning a window performs the same action as hiding it. Click the button

in the upper-right corner of any window to hide and pin it to the side of the COMSOL Desktop. To return the window to its unhidden state, hover over the window name to open it, then click the button (now laying on its side; see Figure 2-4) to restore the window to its default location.

Figure 2-4: A hidden window is minimized along the side of the Desktop. Hover over the window name to view it. You can then choose to Float or Dock the window (either right-click the window or choose options from the menu), or click the Toggle hide icon to restore it to the default location on the Desktop.

Using the Position Guides (Windows Users)

When customizing your COMSOL Desktop, or when you want to return a floating window to the COMSOL Desktop (dock it), there are several visual guides available to assist.

Click and hold the mouse on a window to reposition or dock it on the COMSOL Desktop. This displays the positioning guides (Figure 2-5 and Figure 2-6). Drag the window over any of the guides to highlight the area where the window is to be placed on the desktop (Figure 2-6). The center guide has five options. There are two vertical positioning guides, one on the left and one on the right of the COMSOL Desktop and two horizontal positioning guides, one on the top and one on the bottom of the COMSOL Desktop.

Figure 2-5: Examples of the positioning guides.

Figure 2-6: The positioning guides display (top image) when you click and hold the mouse pointer on a window. Drag the window over any of the guides to see the highlighted light blue area, which indicates the destination for the window. Release the mouse button and the window drops into place (bottom image).

Resizable Tables and Text Areas (Windows Users)

Some tables and text areas are resizable so that you can drag the area to extend it if it contains a lot of text. A border that you can drag to resize a table or text area is indicated by a thicker line:

Figure 2-7: You can click and drag the thicker bottom border to resize the Material Overview table.

You can also click the button in the top-left corner to expand the table to show its contents. If you click the border between two columns in a table, you can then drag to resize the column to the left of the border, or double-click to resize that column to fit its contents.

Maximizing Windows (Windows Users)

To maximize a window in the COMSOL Desktop, double-click at the top of it, click the button in the upper-right corner of the window, or right-click at the top of the window and choose . To restore the window to its original position, double-click at the top of it again, click the button in the upper-right corner of the window, or right-click at the top of the window and choose . You can also choose or from the menu in the upper-right corner of a window.

Selecting, Copying, and Pasting in Tables

In tables of parameters or variables, for example, you can select a row by clicking in one of the cells, and you can select multiple rows by Shift-clicking to select a range of rows or Ctrl-clicking to select a deselect a single row. Pressing Ctrl+A when you are editing a cell selects all text in the cell. If you are not editing a cell, the pressing Ctrl+A select the entire table. You can right-click selected rows in a table and choose .

You can also right-click to , , and the selected table rows. Alternatively, you can use the corresponding keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V.

Moving, Minimizing, and Maximizing Windows (macOS and Linux)

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Right-click the window tab and select > (to move a separate window). Move the mouse to where you want the window to display and left-click to confirm the move.

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Right-click the window tab and select > (to move several tabbed windows) from the list. Move the mouse to where you want to the group of windows to display and left-click to confirm the move.

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To resize a window, hover the mouse over the left, right, top, or bottom boundaries of the window until a double arrow displays. Drag the mouse to resize the window. Or right-click the window tab and select > , , , or . A blue line highlights the choice; drag to resize.

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To maximize and restore a window’s original position, double-click a window tab to maximize it; double-click again to restore it.

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Click the button in the upper-right corner to maximize the window. Click the corresponding button to restore the window to its original size on the COMSOL Desktop. There is also a button.


	At any time, click the Reset desktop button in the main toolbar. The section Keyboard Shortcuts has additional shortcuts for all operating systems.

Vertical or Horizontal Window Orientation (macOS and Linux)

After a window is minimized along the side of the COMSOL Desktop, you also have the option to change the window to (the default) or when you click the window icon (see Figure 2-8).

Figure 2-8: A minimized window is accessible to the left of the Desktop. Click the window icon to view it. You can then right-click the window to Move, Size, Minimize or Maximize the window. You can also change the Orientation of a minimized window to be Horizontal or Vertical when you click and view it on the Desktop in its minimized state.

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The COMSOL Desktop

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The Model Builder

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Creating a New Model